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There are two complementary definitions of vowel, one phonetic and the other phonological.. In the phonetic definition, a vowel is a sound, such as the English "ah" / ɑː / or "oh" / oʊ /, produced with an open vocal tract; it is median (the air escapes along the middle of the tongue), oral (at least some of the airflow must escape through the mouth), frictionless and continuant. [4]
The English alphabet has fewer consonant letters than the English language has consonant sounds, so digraphs like ch , sh , th , and ng are used to extend the alphabet, though some letters and digraphs represent more than one consonant. For example, the sound spelled th in "this" is a different consonant from the th sound in "thin".
The following table shows the 24 consonant phonemes found in most dialects of English, plus /x/, whose distribution is more limited. Fortis consonants are always voiceless, aspirated in syllable onset (except in clusters beginning with /s/ or /ʃ/), and sometimes also glottalized to an extent in syllable coda (most likely to occur with /t/, see T-glottalization), while lenis consonants are ...
The labels on the left refer to distinctive features, and categories of sounds can be grouped together according to whether they share a feature. For instance, as shown in the sonority hierarchy above, vowels are considered [+syllabic], whereas all consonants (including stops, affricates, fricatives, etc.) are considered [−syllabic].
A pulmonic consonant is a consonant made by obstructing the glottis (the space between the vocal folds) or oral cavity (the mouth) and either simultaneously or subsequently letting out air from the lungs. Pulmonic consonants make up the majority of consonants in the IPA, as well as in human language. All consonants in English fall into this ...
In other words, laminal dental and postalveolar consonants are marked as [+dist], while apical alveolar and retroflex consonants are [−dist]. [ DORSAL] Dorsal sounds are articulated by raising the dorsum of the tongue. All vowels are dorsal sounds. Dorsal consonants include palatal, velar and uvular consonants.
This set of sounds contrasts with the obstruents (stops, affricates and fricatives). [1] For some authors, only the term resonant is used with this broader meaning, while sonorant is restricted to the consonantal subset—that is, nasals and liquids only, not vocoids (vowels and semivowels). [2]
Nucleus (ν): A vowel or syllabic consonant, obligatory in most languages; Coda (κ): A consonant or consonant cluster, optional in some languages, highly restricted or prohibited in others; The syllable is usually considered right-branching, i.e. nucleus and coda are grouped together as a "rime" and are only distinguished at the second level.